Mega Man

Mega Man

NES cover (USA)

Developer

Capcom

Publisher

Capcom

Release Date

1987

Genre

Action, Platformer

Platforms

Nintendo Entertainment SystemPC

Mega Man, also known as Rockman (ロックマン, Rokkuman) in Japan, is a game developed and published in 1987 for the NES/Famicom. It is the first game ever to star Mega Man and was directed by Tokuro Fujiwara. Mega Man has been in several series and this is the first game in what is called the "original Mega Man" series (also referred as the "classic Mega Man" series). The game established many of the conventions that would define several Mega Man series. Most notably, Mega Man introduced the setup of a number of stages, each with a Robot Master at the end that, when defeated, would pass on its unique power to Mega Man. The game's music and sound effects are by Manami Matsumae (credited as Chanchacorin Manami) and Yoshihiro Sakaguchi (credited as Yuukichan's Papa).

Japanese Cover Art

Later, it would be added to Mega Man: The Wily Wars for Sega Genesis (1994), as well as the Japanese collection game, Rockman Complete Works in 1999 for the PlayStation. In 2004, it was re-released in the anthology game, Mega Man Anniversary Collection for the GameCube, Xbox, and PlayStation 2. Mega Man has also been released on the Virtual Console in Europe. A mobile game version became available from CapcomMobile and Movaya.

Contents

Mega Man is made up of six stages, with a Robot Master at the end guarding a weapon. The stage select screen allows the player to choose from these six stages, and when they are all completed, the seventh and last stage appears in the middle of the menu, replacing the text "Stage Select, Press Start". This last stage is in fact more like four regular stages linked together, some a bit shorter than average, but with bosses that are considered harder than usual.

Killer Bullet - a flying-type bomb robot that explodes when it is destroyed, causing damage to Mega Man if he is close enough.

Copy Robot - a duplicate of Mega Man created by Dr. Wily using a three dimensional copy system he used to protect his fortress. It was capable of making a near perfect copy of Mega Man, even possessing all of his special weapons, but it could not copy Mega Man's electronic brain and instead uses its own AI.

CWU-01P - a robot that deploys a protective bubble and shoots laser beams. It is also capable of talking, although it shows no personality other than that of an automated sentry.

In the year 20XX, with the advancement of science brilliant scientist Dr. Light (Dr. Wily being his assistant in the story from early American instruction manuals[1]) has built two humanoid robot twins who he decided to call Rock, who job was for lab assistance and his sister Roll, the housekeeper robot. Doctor Light then created six industrial robot, dubbed the 'Robot Masters'[2], to help mankind. Cut Man, Guts Man, Ice Man, Bomb Man, Fire Man, and the prized Elec Man. Dr. Wily, and old friend of Dr. Light from university, had enough of being second fiddle to Dr. Light so he reprogrammed the six industrial robots, but due to having no need for helper robot he left Rock and Roll. Dr. Wily then sent the robots to cause havoc around the globe so he can rule it but the courageous Rock volunteered himself to be turned into a fighting robot called Mega Man. After Mega Man defeated the Robot Masters he battled his way to Wily's fortress, defeated the guardians and, after a long fight defeated Dr. Wily, who promptly gave up and disappeared. Mega Man then went home to be greeted by Dr. Light and Roll.

Mega Man Powered Up (Rockman Rockman in Japan) is a 2006 PlayStation Portable remake of the original game released in 1987.

The game features a new super deformed art style in addition to two new Robot Masters, Time Man and Oil Man. Also, like in Mega Man 7, Mega Man 8, Mega Man & Bass, and the Mega Man X series, there is a new introductory level that comes before the main level selection screen, complete with a new boss at the end. Also included is the ability to play as all 8 Robot Masters from the game, as well as Mega Man, Roll (downloadable), and Proto Man (unlockable and downloadable). The Robot Masters are unlocked by defeating them with the Mega Buster. They also can be used to complete certain character-specific challenges and levels in Story Mode.

Powered Up Japanese Cover Art

The game offers two ways to play each level. "New Style" takes advantage of the wide PSP screen and features altered level design with brand-new remixed music. There are actually 468 New Style stages in this mode, 13 for each difficulty (Easy, Normal, and Hard), and 39 for each character. "Old Style" recreates the original aspect ratio and level design of the original Mega Man for NES, and features the original NES game music, but still retains the 3D graphics and super-deformed art style. When using another weapon, it shows how many uses are left, similar to Mega Man 8.

The game also contains a challenge mode, a level editor, and an online infrastructure mode to distribute fan-made levels online.

The picture on the game's American box art contains virtually nothing that can be found in the game. Mega Man himself resembles a middle-aged man rather than a boy, and he is holding a handgun instead of his Arm Cannon. The game's infamous cover is commonly ridiculed because of its inaccuracy. The European box cover, however, features Mega Man looking more like his video game counterpart.

The reason the North American cover turned out so bad is because the artist was asked to create it with little to no time before the game was released and had never viewed any of the source material, thus creating a cover that had almost nothing to do with the game.[citation needed]

While Mega Man's design in the American Mega Man 2 box art is a little more acurate to his original design, he still has a handgun. It wasn't until Mega Man 3 that Mega Man's design in American box covers became more like his original design.

The American press kit covers for Mega Man 9 and 10 are both a reference to the game's North American box art, having been drawn in the same "bad" art style. Mega Man's design in both covers however is more acurate to his original design than his "Bad Box Art" design, although he still wields a handgun.

The Yashichi is found as a pick-up in the fourth Wily Stage, just before the teleporter. The Magnet Beam is needed to reach it safely, but it refills Mega Man's health and his weapons, and is worth one million points.

Strangely, Proto Man states that he has an unstable nuclear core. In the first few games, he had an unstable solar core, and Dr. Wily doesn't seem to be aware of Proto Man's existence, while he took Proto Man in, again, within the first few games, making this game have quite a few plot holes. However, Proto Man's story is non-canon and is more of a bonus "what-if"-type scenario.

Mega Man's bio in the instruction booklet mentions that he likes animals, especially dogs. This is a possible nod to Rush.

Knight Roll, one of Roll's eleven downloadable alternate costumes, is a reference to Arthur from Ghosts 'n Goblins.